Payback (2015)
Payback (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on May 17, 2015, at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the third event under the Payback chronology, and the first Payback held outside of the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Payback was available free to new subscribers on WWE's monthly subscription service, the WWE Network in over 140 countries. Nine matches took place at the event, with two matches on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton in a Fatal 4-Way match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The event has sold 54,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from the previous year's 67,000 buys. Storylines The card consisted of nine matches, including two on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. At Extreme Rules, Cena retained the United States Championship by defeating Rusev in a Russian Chain match. Later in the event, after consulting with The Authority, Lana stated that Cena would defend the title against Rusev in an "I Quit" match at the event. At Extreme Rules, Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton in a steel cage match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after interference from Kane, Jamie Noble, and Joey Mercury. On the April 27 episode of Raw, it was announced that, as a result of a vote on the WWE App, Rollins was scheduled to defend the title against Orton and Roman Reigns in a triple threat match at the event. On the May 4 episode of Raw, Dean Ambrose defeated Rollins in a non-title match, and per the pre-match stipulation, he was added to the match, thus making the match a fatal-four way. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Triple H decided that if Rollins lost the title, Kane would no longer be the WWE Director of Operations. On the Extreme Rules pre-show, Neville defeated Bad News Barrett. On April 28, Barrett defeated Neville to win the King of the Ring tournament, changing his ring name to King Barrett. On the May 7 episode of SmackDown, Neville and Dolph Ziggler defeated Barrett and Sheamus in a tag team match. On the May 11 episode of Raw, a match between Barrett and Neville was scheduled for the event. At Extreme Rules, Ziggler defeated Sheamus in a Kiss Me Arse match. On the May 7 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler and Neville defeated Sheamus and Barrett in a tag team match. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Ziggler was scheduled to face Sheamus at the event. At Extreme Rules, The New Day defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to win the Tag Team Championship. On the April 30 episode of SmackDown, Kidd and Cesaro defeated The New Day by disqualification in a rematch for the titles. On the May 11 episode of Raw, The New Day were scheduled to defend the titles against Kidd and Cesaro in a 2-out-of-3 falls tag team match at the event. On the May 11 episode of Raw, The Ascension interrupted a match between Curtis Axel and Damien Sandow, in the guise of Macho Mandow, and attacked both wrestlers, resulting in Axel and Mandow teaming together to attack The Ascension. A match between the two pairs was scheduled for the Payback pre-show. Bray Wyatt began sending messages to Ryback in April. On the April 27 and April 30 episodes of Raw, Wyatt attacked Ryback following the latter's victories over Bo Dallas and Luke Harper, respectively. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Ryback attacked Wyatt. On May 13, a match between the two was scheduled for the event. Naomi was defeated by Divas Champion, Nikki Bella, at Extreme Rules, and by Nikki's twin sister, Brie, on the April 27 episode of Raw. A week later, a returning Tamina Snuka joined Naomi in an attack on both Bella Twins. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Tamina defeated Brie. On the May 14 episode of SmackDown, a match between the two teams was scheduled for Payback. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Payback Category:Payback Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2015 Pay-Per-View Events